Mike Krzyzewski has talked openly since early April about the possibility of redshirting senior guard Andre Dawkins next season. Thursday, at his annual summer press conference, the Duke basketball coach made it official.

“We’re redshirting him,” Krzyzewski said when asked why he didn’t mention Dawkins among the Blue Devils’ rising seniors. “That’s what we said and we’re going to do that.”

A 6-foot-4 shooting guard who graduated high school a year early to enroll at Duke, Dawkins has had an up-and-down career with the Blue Devils.

His key 3-pointer just before halftime helped Duke beat Baylor in the 2010 South Region final on the way to the national championship. He also scored 26 points against Michigan State last November to lead Krzyzewski to his record-setting 903rd career victory at Madison Square Garden.

But Dawkins has been just as prone to disappearing for long stretches of time. He made just three of his last 22 shots from the floor during the final six games of last season while finishing with averages of 8.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

Off the court, Dawkins has never completely come to grips with the death of his older sister Lacey, who was killed in a car accident in December 2009 while on the way to watch him play a game during his freshman season.

With plenty of backcourt talent on the roster next season, including incoming freshman Rasheed Sulaimon, Krzyzewski has the luxury of allowing Dawkins to take a year away from basketball to regain his focus and enthusiasm.

How much of a role he will have with the 2012-13 team, if any at all, is still uncertain.

“I’d rather not talk too much about that,” Krzyzewski said Thursday. “It’s a time for him to step away. It’s the right thing we’re doing. It’s the right thing.”